war, and their ensuing transformation that today we know as the fort circle parks. so let me begin by introducing you to our terrific group of precenters. dr. b. franklin cooling, he is a well regarded military and able historian and professor of national security at the national defense university's eisenhower school of resource strategy. he has written extensively on the national capital region, tennessee, and kentucky and the roles these regions played in the civil war. today dr. cooling will discuss the development of the civil war defenses of washington and their impact on the war. loretta newman, she is the co-founder and vice president of the alliance to preserve the civil war defenses of washington. she worked for the house interior committee where she handled national parks, public lands and historic preservation legislation and during the clinton administration she also

directed the american heritage rivers initiative at the white house council on environmental quality. today miss newman will discuss the post war impact on the forts, on the surrounding neighborhoods in washington and their evolution into parks. and kim elder. miss elder is the national parks services program manager for civil war defenses of washington. she is responsible for the management, the oversight program development of 16 -- for 16 of the remaining forts and batteries opened and operated by the national parks service. so today ms. elder will highlight the parks today and provide us with a preview of this weekend's activities at fort stevens. so let me begin now with dr. cooling. [ applause ] good afternoon, folks. pleasure to be back in this lovely facility even if every time i come here i go in the

wrong entrance to the national archives. as a researcher, i became very accustomed over 30 years or more of going in the other side. well, you don't want to hear about that today. i'll mention the national archives in just a second in a different context. i am happy to say that for four days now i have listened to the national park service and the city in frederick county regail me with how the battle of monacassy saved washington from federal capture. now having been privy to this -- or also is a developer in this, a couple of books on monacassy i fear that i am part of the problem. today i want to tell you the real battle to save the city of washington is what we'll talk about. we'll talk to you about fortress washington, abe lincoln, fort

stevens and the battle that really saved the union on the 11th and 12th of july 1864. it's ironic that not 50 years plus a month before, 50 years and a month before -- i think that's 49 years and 11 months but, anyway, the british, you will recall, captured washington and burned the public building setting a day in infamy that was not 911 and was not 7 december 1941. 3 50 years later an enemy almost did it again. although they were fellow americans was the enemy of the state, the enemy of the united states. the confederacy. we forget both, 1814 and 1864 despite an inextricable linkage between then and now through the

commemoration of a susquitennial and next month a bicentennial. without the national archives, this is not pandering to the archives of the united states, without the national archives, without the national capital planning commission and the national park commission, the task of remembrance, preservation which we're going to be speaking of also today, and public use, indeed public recognition would be incompetent fin nintly harder. public records, public planning and foresight links together then with now and into the future. we're not there yet for the future, believe me. what we have is using the laboratory of historical site and event, the records official and private or unofficial, the awareness, the education, the furthering of agendas is what the sus question centennial muss be about. i listened to jim lightheiser

yesterday give the opening address at the monacassy event. he said the preservation of land will outlive all of us, including of course machine readable and print readable records, surprisingly to say. 1814. go back to 1814. washington was a small, insignificant village that purported to be the capital of a new nation. was the seat of government. by 1864 washington, of course, is much more than that. it is the fortress of washington. a fortified mr. lincoln city. 60 odd, or more, forts, 93 unarmed batteries, miles of military roads, entrenchments,

infrastructure for logistics, hospitals as well as the political capital of the nation, the united states. had it not been for 1814 and the battle of bladensberg, there would not have been the attention paid by 1864 in part to protecting the city. indeed, through the intervening years there had been constructed in the area of the most possible threat to the capital, that is to say the river approach, fort washington. by 1861 it was completely neglected and of no use whatsoever in a brothers war of -- a civil war, especially where, in fact, maryland, a southern slave holding state was five miles away from us right here surrounding the capital of the union or the old united states. by 1864, as i said, there's a ring of fortifications around the city which happily today are park lapped.

they're preserved. we have something we can point to from the civil war and suggest that it's still using -- still being employed usefully for the city and the population today. nationally, locally, and the residents of the district of columbia. now these were unearned -- i should say these were earthened fortifications for washington with the masonry. the field fortifications thrown up by infantryman, artillery men, black, white, contrabands. hired labor. we had hired military contractors even back then. you might say maybe halliburton didn't have anything to do with it, but it's interesting to think about. an interlocking communication system of signals, telegraph, roads, wagon parks, store houses, arsenals. where i work at national defense university is the old washington arsenal that figured prominently in this story.

but why do we consider the symbol, sword, and shield, symbol of the union, washington d.c. the shield, the fortifications that protected the city. and the sword, the union armies in the field that were supposed to work together with these fortifications as important in our particular story. by 1864 these forts and heavy armament down at fort foot, which you must visit because it's a superb fort restored and preserved with the heavy ordinance of the period. by 1864 we have an episode that is as the duke of wellington would have declared had he been here instead of about waterloo, he would have said about fort learned, despite all these fortifications, despite the thousands of public dollars expended on this

fortification system. it was the critical summer of 1864, a critical month of july. ten critical days if we had been in the city at this particular time -- haven't gotten there yet. give me a chance, huh? if we had been here on july 10th, 1864, we would be passed in the streets without air conditioning, without refrigeration because rebels were close enough to be in lockville, gaithersburg and on up the line to monacassy. this was the third confederation invasion.

a critical preee lebs war. abraham lincoln was a man beset by the same problems as president obama has. a not so loyal opposition by a party called the radicals that had seventy to him a drastic reconstruction bill that would have been putative and unpal lative to his reconstruction. it was a storied risk taking attempt by robert e. lee to change the strategic balance in the east. not just militarily but also politically. though militarily he thought predominantly through the state of his own career. he wanted to break the strangle hold of ulysses e. grant and others on the richmond/petersburg line. you may recall in the west the atlanta campaign had become

bogged down. on the coast lines wilmington, north carolina, had not been blockaded effectively by the union. in fact, in this critical election, everything was kind of at a stand still. the war had not been won after gettysburg. forget emancipation. it all hung in the balance. it all hung in the balance in after an noof at fort stevens when my favorite general, hard swearing had children out of wedlock spill tt tobacco, i hav biography coming out pointing out many of his foibles, but he was a fighter. he appeared here at fort stevens

by noon on july 11th, the day tomorrow, with 8 to 10, maybe 12,000 men. battle hardened veterans and was the -- the game changer here in this war in the east. how close the invasion, the time line, the citizen soldier, the lawyer in uniform, jubel early, who opposed secession but went with his state much like robert e. lee. never understood that because he was a west pointer. after the war in canada he used to look across at fort niagara and complain about that barber pole flag, the american flag that he had to look at every morning. well, he swore allegiance to it when he graduated west point so i don't have must truck for early and his comments on the american flag.

he loses three days. he loses another day at frederick. monacassy, yes, a battle that cost him the services of one of his best visions, but jubel early has become the confederate incarnate, not just a confederate in the attic, but confederate incarnate of the war. he's the great extorsionist of the civil war. he decides he's going to extort capital from all these northern cities and particularly by '64, american cities like hagerstown, frederick, and he wastes a lot of time when his primary mission is to get to washington, change the scope of the war, capture the city, disperse the lincoln administrati administration. he'se yi ballying around in

frederick. on july 10th the thermometer here at georgetown university or up in maryland at a farm near sandy springs stood in the mid 90s. drought had been in the region for weeks on end. water was in short supply and the marching columns went through six inch dust on even a macadamized highway but not like what we had on i-270. probably took them as long to get through the dust as we do going up 270, just about as unpleasant, too. but all these delays get to our main point about the battle of fort stevens, and i don't want to go on too long because we've got other things be we want to talk about this afternoon. fort stevens had been set up as fort massachusetts based on a camp brightwood out in the brightwood section of washington as early as 1861. after the previous invasion of

maryland in 1862 they expanded fort massachusetts, who obviously had been built by massachusetts soldiers, volunteers in part, into fort stevens. you can still see, and we'll talk about that, the restored parapit there at fort stevens. everybody goes out to fort stevens, where's the fort, thinking they're going to find a western stockade or more like fort mchenry or like fort washington. fort stevens was an expanded earthen fort with a stockaded back side to it called a stockaded gorge. that saved labor and all of that stuff. had 19 guns. was manned by this time not by a veteran ar till ler lists but 150 day men out of ohio who had come to enable the ar till ler lists to be shipped to grant as cannon fire for the battles in virginia. now interestingly enough, these 150 day men that manned fort stevens were the equal to those heavy ar till lerists because

the remaining garrisons had trained these 150 day people. let me just tell you one moment in time before i kind of wrap this thing up and let loretta and kim have at it here. it's early afternoon july 11th, monday afternoon. the moment when the two forces will meet at fort steechs. there's early's men coming in from frederick and there's reinforcement coming up by the petersburg line by boat that are down at the docks at 6th street at this very moment. at this very moment jubel early rides down what we know as georgia avenue, 7th street road, and at walter reed army medical center, one of the great travesties of our time, giving up walter reed so we can create more traffic congestion in bethesda, walter reed is

situated on what is going to become a battlefield, the only battlefield in the district of columbia. jubel early, hunched over from arthritis due to the mexican war and the dews and damps, pulls out his binoculars and peers down at fort steechs and the union lines from his left fort slocum and to his right which would have been fort derusy, he peers through the binoculars. he senses the moment of opportunity to change the course of the war, my career, american history and the future of the confederacy beckons right then and there. can you imagine that career opportunity for any of us at that time? not robert e. lee, jubel early. the enemy was going to know about him. he turns to bring up his army and there's no army he can bring

up because of the heat and the dust and they're straggling all the way back up almost up to the monacassy, certainly by ga gaithersbu gaithersburg. would we have pressed that? here's your snoemt would you have pushed the momentum and found something more than a corporal's guard to go forward and push through those thinly held lines at the time? jubel early doesn't. maybe he was just as tired and jaded and fatigued. he hated the yankees by this stage, but he couldn't push forward. so what does he do? next best. what most of us would have done. he retires back to silver springs, the mansion of frances preston blair, and the sill van spring there and the rum cellar and he calls command conference to wait developments. he loses the initiative here at fort stevens. the next day and in fact that day a man who doesn't lose initiative, not that he's necessarily my hero but he

doesn't lose the initiative, abraham lincoln. abe. he comes out to fort stevens to see what's going on. he also wants to come out to fort stevens to be with his boys. if you think lincoln was not a consummate politician, you may be an idealist. he comes out. he's there on the second day and he comes up to the fort, the rear end of the fort and who are ratio wright who was mentioned to us before is the six core commander who has brought his troops in there. he says, mr. president, i'm so happy to see you here. would you like to see a battle? no sooner the words out of his mouth he realizes, oops. gets shot. think about it. who becomes vice president? never heard of hanniball hamlin. what happens to the city?

abe goes up there, nearly gets shot. maybe not where that boulder is placed today. maybe not in that configuration. the great what ifs in history that are based on the records and legend and myth and story telling, much like i'm telling some stories today, historians are great. history never repeats itself. historians repeat each other. in any case, lincoln is almost sh shot. a surgeon from the 102nd nearby is nearby. a missed opportunity for the confederacy. lincoln was nearly shot. that evening was planned by the time he realized he could not reach fort stevens because wright and his troops had come in from grant's army. and, of course, this episode slightly scathes or certainly does nothing much for lincoln's re-election chances that summer.

lincoln probably had on his mind those days the way davis reconstruction bill more than anything else. the fate of his secretary of state's one son who was nearly captured and was wounded at monacassy and the political chances of re-election. remember the blind memorandum by august in this deadly summer of near defeat, largely because of early before washington, the president gets his cabinet to sign on the back of a memorandum saying that -- they don't know it, but he promises to -- that everybody will abide by the succession that will come when he thinks he is not going to get re-elected. military incompetence on the north side. the north is taken back. there are denone seeations that maybe lincoln set this whole episode up for some reason. that sounds familiar, doesn't it? conspiracy theory. scathing criticism of a warren materially -- i mean, sherman's gone nowhere.

grant's going nowhere. the navy's going nowhere. only the confederates seem to be going somewhere and they blinked before washington, but they escaped. they escaped. so it falls to an autumn campaign in the valley and a change of command that will occur up here at monacassy junction in august that brings that team together of grant sherry done and early's demise. he turns to his staff and he drawled, well, gentleman, i guess we scared abe lincoln like hell. and according to his aide, henry kid douglas, douglas who represents most of the confederate force was kicked off, he turns to his superior. he said, well, general on the afternoon of the 12th when this -- you can see on the map here, these couple of brigades came out against us in a

counterassault, there was somebody else that was pretty scared like hell, i suspect. and he spills out of the side of his mouth and utters a couple more pro fan nirt tis and he said, well, yeah, i guess so, but it ain't going to make it into history books. well, it has made it even if not by official records. in any case, the member wars, the reminiscences which flesh out the official records. in fact, i venture to tell you there are probably more records in the national archives now that are not in the official records of the war of the rebellion published by the war department and a navy counterpart for the benefit mostly of the veterans after the war though the military also used it in war planning, and there's probably more that can be found on this thing. let me wrap up by suggesting this. grant may have declared that early's lost opportunity did change his summer plans if only

to finally force grant to saeal the achilles heel of the shenandoah valley and the approach to washington. the soldiers in these foirts for days after early was back in the shenandoah valley, were still cleaning up not necessarily the battlefield which they did, but cleaning up the overgrown fortifications, kind of locking the barn door after the horse had been stolen, if you will. make no mistake, however, to a number of these union veterans, the high water mark was not pittsburgh, it was not gettysburg, it was, huh, a little toll house, toll gate house at the corner of georgia avenue and piney branch road. that was the fullest extent that the confederate forces here at fort stevens came on the afternoon of july 11th and 12th

changing the course of the war and the course of us today quite frankly. the works have eroded. we'll hear about that a little bit in a moment. we don't really know where lincoln stood. i think he stood all over the place. lincoln never stood still. he was behind the ramp, he was up on the ramp, he was over to the fort massachusetts portion, he was over to fort stevens, but we really don't know for sure despite the lovely stone and ball relief out there at fort stevens where the veterans years later remembered seeing lincoln. i'm 75 years of age, folks. i remember things differently than when i was fighting or something like that at 20, 18, what have you? who knows. the veterans may have been mistaken, but they wanted to mark that spot and they got the stone out of the walter reed area, cameron creek, brought it up there, one of the ugliest

monuments in washington. put that bar relief on there and that's their monument. that's their monument to the remembrance of lincoln on enemy fire. we don't know that oliver wendal holmes jr., the justice of the supreme court, really uttered one of those immortal words, get that damn fool down. the reminiscences suggest there were five or six other people, veterans as well as the owner of the fort stevens property also shoulted get that fool down, get that man down, including horacio wright got the chief executive down because he couldn't protect him. mr. president, i can't protect you. finally lincoln gets down off his perch. urbanized washington took over the last civil war battlefield. still, washington forts are yet another of washington's many monuments that have transitioned in purpose testament to survival

of national unification and particularly fort stevens in its decisive battle, they warrant recognition from all of us, appreciation, commemoration after 150 years for what they did there and probably both sides lost over 1,000 people in casualties, many of whom or some of whom, at least, are buried at battleground national cemetery and a little confederate cemetery at grace episcopal church out at silver spring. so just what they have become and what those soldiers brought there 150 years ago certainly warrant our gratitude today, our recognition and some consideration in the pantheon of heroes of the nation, heroes of the southern confederacy, including the general officers as well as the enlisted personnel, the veterans who came back like louis cass white did

from the 102nd pennsylvania after the war, worked in the pension bureau. the -- both immediate great entitlement program built a house and helped preserve what loretta's going to tell you about right now. thank you. [ applause ] thank you, fair and accurate. he is amazing. everything i'm going to show you, i'm the picture girl, came from him. especially for the civil war defenses of washington, there's a bible. it's frank's and wally owens co-authored wrote "mr. lincoln's fort." if you really care about these issues, that's the book to read. i wish i had brought it with me, but i encourage you to get that book. so what i'm going do is give you

a little story. the nice thing about youtube, you can watch it later, pause, look at these at your leisure. you can read faster than i request talk. -- can talk. the history, the parks, recreation, natural resources. the lungs of the city are these forts and parks. so there we start. and as frank said, city was unprotected. down below this is fort washington. if you haven't been there, you should go, but it's quite different from the forts that were built during the civil war. and after bull run lincoln knew that the city was vulnerable and that's when he ordered director -- i mean major general john g.barnard to build a series of forts around the city to protect it. >> you can see it was quite an

amazing fete to build all of those. they did them very, very quickly. it was just tremendous. and here they are today. i've circled on here on this old map the ones that are under government ownership today. the park service owns all the ones that are in washington, d.c., plus one in maryland, one in virginia, and then the ones in virginia are openwned by loc governments and you'll see some of them as well. another part of the story, and it's a story as well, is in 1902 senate mcmillan commission a report on a park -- they were planning parks in d.c. one of their major recommendations had to do with the civil war defenses of washington. they saw that these forts which were highly placed were both beautiful to look at and they were beautiful to look from. they saw these as potential parks and linking them up with a fort circle drive which they proposed and which congress funded until the 1930s.

i have a newspaper article that says that all but about one mile of it was bought. so there's land linking all of those forts. and these are all the different forts. they're under three different management systems unfortunately. it's something that we're hoping to change. eleanor holmes is proposing change to establish the civil war defenses of washington national historical parks and have it under its own superintendent and hopefully its own staff and, you know, we'll be able to do the things that we would like to see done. but i'm going to give you quickly here's fort stevens, some historical photos. you can see what frank was telling you about. it's just quite an amazing place. the thing i like to note, a few other slides you'll see, the farm land. all of this was farm land around it. some houses. many of them got burnt by the shells and burnt. here it is today. the ccc in the 1930s, the

civilian conservation corps reconstructed much of fort stevens and you can get the flavor of what it was like back then. it's well worth a visit. has cannons, there's a magazine over here and the boulder, i don't think -- sorry i didn't get a picture of the boulder, but it's there, too. it was also important in african-americans history then and now. the -- it was the earliest black settlement in d.c. and this woman, elizabeth thomas, she was a freed african-american, had 11 acres. i think back then women didn't tend to own land at all, and a freed black woman was really unusual. her land was taken for fort stevens. just down from fort stevens is this land right here. this is private property. it was threatened with a town house development. it was awful. some of us got together and said, we've got to do something. we got the national park trust

to buy it and got it added to fort stevens. down here two more african-americans, historically significant properties, and i encourage you later to read about them. the military school and the light house. now here is a map. i think this will help best of all knowing around fort stevens because the battle, all of the fortifications kind of manned up. they didn't know where the confederates might go down from the south or something, but they were coming from the north. so it's a whole range up here, the northern tier that came into play. it starts down here. here's fort bunker hill. that's in brookland. here's fort totten. my husband and i live in tacoma. fort stevens, we live up here. here's fort stevens. we're very close. fort derucey was in clay. very much so. and fort reno. fort reno was huge. you'll see a picture of that in a moment.

and it was -- oops, i also have down here fort baird and battery kimball. you'll see some pictures of others. but anyway, fort bunker hill, quickly, it's a square block and it's high. the park service is now repairing the trails that lead up there. so it should be a great recreation spot even though it doesn't have any of the defenses left. and leaving from there coming into where fort totten is is this stretch land. it's along gallatin street. it was bought for the fort circle drive. there is a drive along here. i suppose they would have put it in the middle. i'm glad they didn't. this is leading into fort totten. here's the metro station. the high hills of the fort are up here. there are defenses in that fort. this is part of the fort circle drive land. here's fort totten, some historical photographs. you notice i have in every one of these, i tried to get the real person's name.

the more i study this, the more i get to learn, i love the land, i love the parks, i love all of that but these were real people so i'm trying to bring the human element into this story as well. here's the cannon and real people who manned them. fort totten today, unfortunately it's not doing so well. the entrance is closed off. the gate was closed when they started having trouble. there's erosion from dirt bikers who love to come. this is a real defense, you know, the earth works there. but it's beautiful land. it's huge, too. it could be a magnificent park but it needs staffing and it needs resources and it needs programs and it needs what the park service does best, run parks. fort slocum, it's in manor park as i mentioned. as you can see around it, this is all farm land. u.s. colored infantry was there. these are white officers here. behind are the ncos that are

african-american. and fort slocum today, there's really nothing left of the defenses there but there's a great park. i frankly think interpreting it, if they could get a cannon there and have a ranger come and give a talk there for the people who live around it, they could learn about it. this is part of the fort circle drive land that was never built on. along the side. it makes a lovely boulevard. fourth derussy. you have to go to fort durussy. this is military road. you come up to oregon avenue, drive in and pull off. very easy to find. there's a huge tree by the -- when you go to the nature center and walk down towards fort derussy. they call it a witness tree. they think it was there during the battle. it still is 150 years old. here are the earth works. they're massive. you can go all the way around. my picture doesn't do justice. and some hiking trails.

it's just a terrific park. again, fort reno. fort reno is the highest point in the city and on top of that to boot they had this tower. so when the -- up here they could see the dust -- the confederates coming and they knew, uh-oh, we are in trouble. but, similarly, when jubel early looked at his eyeglass of fort reno, that is pretty well fortified, it's high, big, strong, i don't dare. then he turned down baird's mill and came on georgia avenue to fort stevens. here's the modern fort reno. even if there's nothing left of the defenses there, if you climb up to the top, which i did, that's virginia in the distance. you can feel like what it might have been like. kind of close your eyes and blink a little. it's definitely worth a visit. and nearby is more land. it's a huge -- still a huge parkland.

again, some land that was brought for the civil war defenses. i took this a couple of weeks ago. i'm driving along here, on 36th street. i'm looking down here thinking, what a beautiful wilderness in the city. amazing, great space. this is moormr more manicured. i guess people don't look at it. i looked over here. sure enough on the tree reading a kindle book or something, i guess, politics and prose is not far away. that's a park. the park service doesn't like this. the community loves it for dog walking. back in these trees are some defenses that remain. it's well worth a visit. that was to guard the chain bridge which was the only fixed bridge between watching top and harper's ferry, so it was very important. across the river on the potomac is the only fort that the park has today that's in virginia, fort marcy.

it was built a chain bridge, protect leesburg pike. it has masses and good sized defenses there. not much interpretation, if any, a little, so if you know what you're seeing, you know where to go, you can enjoy it. that's something i would love to see in the future, that it be better interpreted. then crossing the an at that cost yeah to the other side of the river, before you're going this beautiful land up here. the connecting land and the fort. i gave this to the national capital planning commission when they had a hearing on the expansion of the hidac in d.c. i said, think of what would happen if buildings were high here. it would destroy the view of that and then looking from those places out, you're going to see a couple pictures of them, views, how terrible it would be. you would destroy this great vista. now here are the ones on the side of the anacostia. at least you'll get a flavor and

see how beautiful they are, how historic they are and the potential. here's fort foote. it was high above the river, you can see the beautiful vista there. president lincoln did go out and visit it. here's me under the cannon. not to show off me, but how big they are. here's the cannon. they fell down in the ravine and they got put up. it's halfway between washington and -- d.c. and fort washington. about six miles down. here's fort stanton. to enter it you have to come through this -- our lady of perpetual health catholic chu h church's driveway. some of the earth works did get destroyed to build that. this is the view i took in 2003

when i started getting involved in the park service on these things, and last fall here is the same view and it was all covered and i complained to kim elder, the program manager you'll meet in a moment about it, and she fought and fought and fought, and she said she wanted it by the 4th of july to have it cut and sure enough i went and took this picture. it's even better than it was before so thank you, kim. this is not part of the forts there but nobody can go up to fort stanton and not drop by and see the frederick douglas national historic site. he was to important, former slave, abolitionists, speaker, statesman. the house is fabulous. then down the way is fort rickets. again, there's stuff behind there, picnic table though and then behind in the trees there are defenses still there.

here's fort davis. it was done in the ccc era in 1935. here's a picture of it being built. it's overgrown but you can still go there and see and get what the defenses looked like, what those earth works looked like. here's fort dupont which is the second largest park in d.c. it has problems with exotic vegetation so our hope is that -- i don't know what -- i'm not the kind of person that can tell you what to do about exotic vegetation, but it does hurt the earth works. something should be done. here's on the fort circle park lands in the hills all over the area east of the anacostia. the beautiful plants, endangered species that are up there. a ranger told me that people go up -- drive all the way to the shenandoah mountains to see the mountain laurel in the spring and you can walk up in those hills and see those so it's well worth the visit. this is a hike i went on with the sierra club. this afternoon there will be one leaving from fort derussy about

4:00 and ending up at fort stevens. if you want to do that go to the nature center at the park service at rock creek. fort chaplain. it's got a park. it's more of a park than a historic site. wonderful park. here are the ones that are in virginia and maryland that are owned by local governments. real quick. i'll just go fast. this is battery bailey. i love battery bailey. it's just a little one. it was a battery. if you know a battery, it was a place where they had, i don't know, a platform where they could put a cannon there. they weren't garrisons. it's interesting. right off mass. avenue as you go out of the city. fort ethan allen. just this spring they have done a wonderful job of interpretation -- improving the earth works but also doing some interpretation. they had a fabulous event. here's c.f. smith.

another one here. here, hey, this is historic. this is there now and they also have bathrooms there. you know, we don't have those at fort stevens. fort ward, this is a gem of them. i hate to admit it, but it is. it's big. it's been restored. about 90% of the earth works are restored. it has a great museum. it's in alexandria. alexandria owns it and runs it. terrific. the displays are great. they're also doing a lot of history on the african-american story there, which i won't get into, it's very controversial, but they're at least trying now to make up for past wrongs. fort willard. this is the cutest little thing, it's just a traffic circle with people around it. look what they did. these are earth works, ruins, cannon. you drive and you feel like you're back then. and then this is fort stevens this weekend. now this is what it was the last couple years. every year the closest date we

have an event. the one this year is those on steroids. she's going to tell you about it. it's going to be fabulous. here's kim. this is our alliance group. we're -- the president, susan clafey, treasurer, gary thompson and me. it's real important to have advocates, and that's what we are for the alliance to preserve the civil war defenses of washington. we're six years old. we're fighting very hard for that legislation. we hope you'll help us support it and i thank you for the chance to speak. [ applause ] >> well, again, good afternoon. i want to thank our host, the national archives for hosting us and having all these folks here to talk about the civil war

forts of washington. i'd like to thank our sister agency, the ncpc. again, i'm going to click this button. so as been alluded to, my colleagues here alluded to, we've got a lot of great things going on in these forts, and we are ready to tell that story. this is a great point in history, the 150th anniversary of this battle of fort stevens. the only civil war battle fought in washington, d.c., and over the next couple of days we're going to have lots of activities planned at the grounds of fort stevens including at the battleground national cemetery. the second national cemetery managed by the national park service. the 38 union soldiers buried there. it's a lovely place to come out and visit. we'll have events there on this coming sunday. i do want to point out that many of you all may have gotten a copy of this commemorative program here. it's just not fort stevens but the entire sort of campaign or

the attack on washington by jubel early. it's all here. we ask you to take a look at it and if you have an opportunity to come out and visit with us, please do so. so as we've noted, today and tomorrow we've got a lot of great things going on. we just learned that cspan will be out tomorrow evening at fort stevens to cover the civil war historian's roundtable. we have noted speakers for that. and then as loretta sort of alluded to, we're looking at fort stevens day which we've been hosting in my tenure for the last three years. fort stevens day on steroids. we're going to have mr. lincoln there, mrs. lincoln, we're going to have nikolai and we will be firing a cannon from fort stevens. the first time in 150 years a cannon will be fired on a d.c. fort so you've got to come out and share with that. and as i mentioned, on sunday we'll have the memorial program at the battleground national cemetery where we will pay

respect to those 38 soldiers who were buried there and the many, many others who have given their -- the ultimate sacrifice for this country so, again, i know that we didn't have a lot of time and i'm not sure if we're going to be able to open it up for questions, but i do encourage you all to tell your friends about it, visit us on our website at nps.gov/cwdw. thank you all so very much. [ applause ] >> i think we have time for just one or two questions. if people would like to come to either of the microphones if folks have questions and we'll go ahead and take them in turn. so if you can just give us a minute, sir. please go ahead. >> hi, david balducci, thank

you, all three of you, for your presentations. i'd like to ask a little bit more about the legislation. you alluded to it but i wonder if you could get into it just a little bit deeper and maybe focus on how the local government owned virginia forts will go incorporated into that plan. >> is this on? i take it you're from virginia? what the bill would do, it's -- we tried to make it revenue neutral. so basically it's redesignating these existing forts, the ones that the park service owns as a national historical park, but it also provides for a cooperative agreement with the other locally owned forts, so the four in virginia, the one in maryland, and then also with private owners. there are still some where private owners have portions of old forts on them. we'd like to get better signage. even where the forts aren't there now. for example, i went out a few weeks ago with my husband, dan smith who's here, and -- he

loves to go with me photographing, and i said, there's a fort bennett. i want to find that. that's in virginia. there was a sign. they had a lovely sign there that said fort bennett. there's a little ravine on the side. i the side. i thought maybe that ravine was there. even though there is a big apartment building there. so yes, we will have things and also we'll study a ways to have a pla is in washington, which we don't have to study and commemorate the entire civil war. both sides, confederate and union. >> i'd like to ask a question about the compensation for folks land when we set up the forts. i talked to the ranger at the ft. stevens site and she was saying she wasn't compensated. so i'm interested to know how we got the land then to set up the forts and what practices were in

place at that time. what law was in place. >> we have a black woman by the name elizabeth thomas. on 11 acres of land. just what we consider today as the eminent domain, they came through and took the property. what we don't have is proof that she was actually compensated. again, you can do that in this time of war and that's exactly what happened. unfortunately, we don't know what happened. >> and the rest of the sports, the same practice? >> this is called the laws of military necessity in a time of war. you could take the property. >> okay. >> the descend ants of elizabeth thomas have always taken what she would tell veterans groups years later that president lincoln promised her a great reward. she never got a great reward and

everybody has been agas ever since and they have not seen records and so forth. property owners received back the land if they could prove it was their land and basically the timber and what was remaining in the forts that could be utilized. they could put in claims for damages and, in fact the claims after the war record group 92 i think it is in archives and there are a couple other record groups is where you go to find the records of what had happened and this was all universally used in the south where the military had occupied land and destroyed property, fences, barns, everything else. and so that is kind of a tore there. for a period of months after the end of the war, for example, some of these sports were actually retained with garrisons and gradually the fears of any

resurgence of the rebellion or the threat from the french in mexico or the british or whoever, the army was taking up money so they got rid of it. fort hood, however, retained its garrisons into the 1870s, there were batteries in the spanish american war and war washington even more recently was still an active post. >> thank you. >> sir, i think you will be our last question. >> i was wondering if you were familiar or could help me with a question i had for years and years, within they approached washington cavalry patrols were sent out on both the east and west sides of the city. fact, there was an expedition to try and free the prisoners down at point lookout, which came to nothing t. one that always intrigued me was the cavalry regimen on the western side of washington who really were a little lost and didn't know

where they were reported that they entered one of the forts, found it completely unmanned, went up on the rampart and would see the white house and the capitals in the distance. do you think there is any credibility to that report and what port could that probably have been? >> let me explain. there are three legends you have wrapped into one. the mccauseland's cavalry of early came down rockville pike. we're not sure why early deviates or diverts over to the road over to the 7th street road on georgia avenue and you should go up to monoka seefor no other reason there is a jedediah hodgekiss map, dated april, 1864. it is obviously taken from a core of engineer, union core of

engineer map, et cetera, but whether or not hodgekiss had this presented at the early so that he could come and see where to get into washington, we den know. a straight mystery. mysteries are still surfacing all over the place in the official records or unofficial. mccauseland had on his staff a young chap by the name of luffboro. some of you washingtonians will realize the luffboro road named after the family that had their property. jim washington a washington lawyer has written a history or dine a diary of that family. he ostensibly took mccauseland up the leans of ft. gains at american university, had dinner at his family place and ostensibly they looked down on quote/unquote the dome of the lights of the capital. mccauseland was happy to tell this story to general grant when

grant was in the white house after the war and you can imagine grant chomping on the cigar, mm-hmm, right. for years, nobody believed it. the confederate soldiers, temss, claimed to have seen the dome of the capital. that was pure hocum. there is nowhere you can see the dome of the capital if you know up on meridian heights, you can see thedome is below where visual would have gotten it out if civil silver spring or what have you, probably saw the lights of georgetown, but mccauseland apparently had snuck through the lines on that night and gotten up there with luffboro. nobody else we know of. john b. gordon claims to have come up on the leans if broad daylight. no way of substantiateing that. there again the old soldiers have vivid memory, this is the ardent of your story is there. >> one more comment. it's not a question. i was a surveyor in washington, d.c., a land surveyor for 42

years. in our office, we had the 1880 i think usgs top graphic maps. the first topographic maps put out by the federal government and the for theifications are still on there. it was a cool set the of maps. if you haven't seen those, i think the library of congress has those. you may want to look at that. >> thanks. >> with that, i'd like to again thank the national archives for hosting this really wonderful event. our speakers, please join me one last time in a round of applause for them and thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. [ applause ] >> with live coverage of the u.s. house on c span and senate on c-spavrn span 2, we show you on c-span 3 and on the weekends, it's home to american history tv with programs that tell our nation's story, including six unique stories t. civil war's

150th anniversary, visiting battlefields and key events, american artifacts, touring museums and historic sites to discover what artifacts reveal about america's past. history book shelf. the presidency, looking at the policies and legacys of our nation's canders in chief. lectures in history, top college professors delveing into america's past. our new series, featuring archival educational films from the 1930s knew the '70s. c-span 3 is fund by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us on hd. leak us on facebook and follows on twitter. american history tv normally runs on the weekend. throughout august, we are featuring highlights during the woke. cog up here on c-span 3, we continue our focus on the civil war and look at the battle of ft. stevens, taking place in

the nations capital on july 11th, 1864, confederal forces under general jubil early, before deciding to turn back, coming up watch as fishes from the national park service commemorate the 150th anniversary of the battle of ft. steempbls we will tour the fort stevens battlefields and several for fields in the nation's capital. american history's look at the civil war continues tonight with the battle of the crater occurring during the siege of petersburg, virginia. union forces debt natd explosives underneath the federal lines to create a gap in the defenses, but the attack failed with heavy losses for union troops. tonight, watch as the national park service commemorates the 150th anniversary of the battle. we will also take a look at how the attack failed and why the u.s. color troops were unjustly

blamed and why author kevin levin on the contributions of the u.s. color troops and how they were remembered in the years immediately following the civil war. that's all tonight at 8:00 eastern here on c-span 3. 200 years ago on august 24th, 1818, british troops battled outside washington, d.c. at the battle of bladeensburg, the victory left the nation's capital wide open to forces who marched into the city and burned down the white house and the u.s. capital. you can learn more of the war of 1812 this thursday from author and historian anthony pitch at an event hosted by the smithsonian associates. our live coverage starts at 6:45 p.m. eastern and more about the burning of washington next saturday august 23rd as we take you live to bladeensburg park for a panel discussion on the etc. vents of 200 years ago. that's live at 1:00 p.m. eastern

on c-span 3. now, the national park service commemorates the 150th anniversary of the battle of fort stevens, under general early attacked the defenses before turning being. spooej speakers during this hour long event discuss the battle's significance and contributions by african-american troops. >> good morning. and welcome to ft. stevens. my name is kim elder. i'm the program manager with the national park service for the civil war defenses of washington. i'd like to welcome and thank each of you all for joining us this morning for the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the battle of ft. stevens. ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the presentation of color and a singing of the national anthem by miss anita

frazier. ♪ o say can you see ♪ by the dawn's early light ♪ what so proudly we hailed ♪ at the twilights last gleaming ♪ whose broad stripes and bright stars ♪ through the perilous fight ♪ o'er the ramparts we watched ♪ were so gallantly streaming ♪ and the rockets red glare ♪ the bombs bursting in air

♪ gave proof through the night ♪ that our flag was still there ♪ oh say does that star spangle ♪ banner yet wave ♪ o'er the land of the free ♪ and the home of the brave [ applause

[ applause ] >> you may take your seat. the invokes will be delivered by the senior pastor of saint luke's church, the reverend aubrey lewis. >> let us bow our heads. eternal merciful father, this morning we come to celebrate a historic communication, one that has tremendous significance in the life of african-americans and people alike in washington, d.c. we look for the thunt opportunity to be here and we ask our blessings during this gathering. we ask, lord, that you continue to be with each of us as we go about doing the things that we do on a daily basis and continue

to let us to be a shining beacon as we travel throughout the city. bless this occasion and all those that are a part of it, in jesus' name, we play, amen. >> please welcome rock creek park superintendent tara morrison. [ applause [ applause ] >> good morning, everyone, we are pleased you have joined us today as we commemorate the anniversary of the battle of ft. stevens. the national park service has been commemorating this centennial since 2011 but programing and activities that have engaged, informed and enlightened not only the visitors that have joined us but

the national park services and our many partners as well. the ft. stevens commemorative programs held over the last few months would not be possible without the program manager kim elder and our friends to preserve the civil war defenses of washington, specifically the president and vice president. they worked together over the last two years to plan a series of events that would not only interest and engage those knowledgeable of the war but would also include things that would appeal to nuance. >> that is the key, insuring that we are creating opportunities for nuances to become engaged and informed about our nation's history. thank you, kim, susan and lorretta for your hard work in creating those opportunities. i'd also like to thank the national park service employees and vol there's who are working to execute the plan here this

weekend. we'd like to thank mario bowser who has been supportive to commemorate this anniversary and insure the residents of the district of columbia are aware of the battle of ft. stevens and the role of the community during the war. we are pleased to have with us today mr. c.r. gibbs and mr. ed barrs. both will discuss the battle of ft. stephenson, and share why this battle played a pivotal role in our nation's history. we thank you for joining us and hope you stay for this afternoon's events and tomorrow's events at the battleground cemetery. thank you. [ applause [ applause ] >> good morning. my name is doug jimmerson, i'm

going to sing a few snifkts period songs that we main wonderful stongs in our american musical heritage. the first was called at the time red, white and blue colombia the gem of the oaks ♪ oh the gem of the ocean ♪ the home of the brave and the free ♪ the shrine of each patron's devotion ♪ our world offers homage with thee ♪ my mandate of heroes assemble ♪ when the authority stands in view ♪ thy banners make tyranny crumble ♪ when borne by the red, white and blue ♪ when bern by the red, white and blue ♪ when borne by the red, white

and blue ♪ thy banners make tyranny tremble ♪ when borne by the red, white and blue ♪ the ween cup, the wine cup hither ♪ and fill it to the brim ♪ may the reeds they have won never wither ♪ nor the star of their glory grow dim ♪ may the service united never severe ♪ nor to their country brew through ♪ the army and navy forever ♪ three clears for the red white and blue ♪ three clears for the red, white and blue ♪ three clears for the red, white and blue ♪ the army and navy forever

♪ three cheers for the red, white and blue ♪ thank you. [ applause ] >> there you go. i want you to participate. that's wonderful. all right. and this one, a very inspiring national hymn and please join me on the chorus. the battle hymn of the republic. ♪ mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord ♪ he is trampleing out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored ♪ yet lose the fate for lightning of his terrible truth ♪ the truth is marching on ♪ glory, glory, glory alleluia ♪ glory, glory, glory,

hallelujah ♪ glory, glory, glory, hallelujah ♪ his truth is marching on ♪ i have seen him in the watch piles of the hundreds circling camps ♪ they have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps ♪ i can read his righteous sentence by the dim and flareing lamps, his day is marching on ♪ glory, glory, glory, hallelujah ♪ glory, glory, glory, h hallelujah ♪ glory, glory, glory, haleluia ♪ his day is watching on ♪ he has sounded forth the trumpet that should never call retreat ♪ he has lifted out the hearts of men before his judgment cease

♪ he will switch my soul to answer him ♪ be jubilant at his feet ♪ our god is marching on. everyone ♪ glory, glory, glory, hallelujah ♪ glory, glory, glory, hallelujah ♪ glory, glory, glory, hallelujah ♪ his truth is marching on [ applause ] >> thank you very much. you know, during the civil war, that tune was probably sung more than any other, but not with those words. they sang john brown's body and it wasn't that the john brown of harper's fur fury, it was some obscure person in massachusetts. but the "glory, glory, glory," that was from the original. that was not written by julia ward howell. that was in the original song.

it's very interesting. and so i am going to make this a rather brief program i'm going to do two more. i think this next one is arguably our greatest patriotic song and the one least remembered unfortunately, but it was a significant composition for the civil war and the, when the union bands played this and the soldiers sang this, it just struck a terrible fear in the hearts of the reps. the battle cry of freedom. ♪ yes, we will rally around the flag, boys ♪ rally once again ♪ shouting the battle cry of freedom ♪ we will rally from the hillside ♪ we'll gather from the plain

♪ shouting the battle cry of freedom ♪ the union, harrah, boys, harrah ♪ down with the vapor and up with the star ♪ while we rally around the flag, boys ♪ rally once again ♪ shouting the battle cry of freedom ♪ we are springing for 300,000 more ♪ shouting the battle cry of freedom ♪ and we'll fill those have a can't ranks of our brother's gone before ♪ shouting the battle cry of freedom the union practicever, harrah, boys, harrah ♪ down with the vapor up with the star ♪ while we rally around the flag, boys, ramally once again, shouting the battle cry of

freedom ♪ >> harrah. thank you. [ applause ] . and then i've discovered in my research, i'm a musicologist and a historian, i have a real passion for the life of lincoln, of course. and what i have discovered is that during lincoln's presidency, you know, the marine band was at every significant occasion and usually they closed their program with yankee doodle so we'll close with yankee doodle ♪ mother and i went down to gap ♪ along with captain gordon ♪ there we saw the man and boys as thick as pudding ♪ yankee doodle keep it up ♪ yankee doodle dandy ♪ find the music and the step

and with the girls be handy ♪ and there was general washington on a snow white charger ♪ he looked as big as so sad he looked much larger ♪ yankee doodle keep it up ♪ yankee doodle dandy ♪ find the musk and the step and with the girls be handy. now everybody's verse, sing it ♪ yankee doodle went to town ♪ riding on a pony ♪ stuffed a feather in his hat and called it macaroni ♪ yankee doodle keep it up ♪ yankee doodle dandy ♪ mind the music and the step and with the girls be handy ♪ yankee doodle keep it up ♪ yankee doodle dandy ♪ mind the music and the step ♪ and with the girls be handy [ applause ] >> thank you thanks so much.

enjoy your wonderful day lear at ft. stevens. our first speaker this morning is mr. c.r. gibbs. mr. gibbs is a photoed local award winning historian, international lecturer, author and historian of the africans. he is a scholar at the acostia and smith son yan museum. he has conducted research on black civil war units as well as serve aztec nickal adviser to the frances thompson company on a film entitled "american years." he has written many books. his articles have appeared in numerous respected journals, including the negro history bulletin and african-american inventers, please welcome mr. c.r. gibbs.

>> good morning, everyone. i will leave it to my esteemed colleague to describe the eb and flow of battle that occurred here in july of 1864. what i want to do for a few minutes today is to offer some reflections on the contributions of african americans to the defensef of walk. for all too often are our understanding of what happens here and the movement within the city is if you know about, this is the thomas whose health was destroyed by lincoln, that the fort, itself, sits on a part of an african-american neighborhood called vinegar hill. the story is actually much large were than that. i think perhaps the best way to begin is by sharing with you a portion of a letter written on june the 7th, 1862, from the engineer in charge of the defense of washington to the military governor of the

district of columbia. general, i have the honor to request a detail of contrabands for work on the for theifications of the maryland side of the potomac. as the governments subcyst then, it would be advisable to get some return for the expense. i could easily employ 250 and discharge the hired laborers now working on these forts and that's very much diminished the expense of finishing the work. i propose to have the negros posted as follows, in forts, franklin, alexander and ripley and fort gains and pennsylvania 20, massachusetts, and slocum 30 and to the totten and slimmer, bunker hill and lincoln 20, mahan, miggs, dupont and davis 20. it goes on and on.

the point here is that by june of 1862, only the most arguably negro folks seemed to be against the use of black men at least in building the fort and securing the garrisons that helped to fortify the city. in fact, this very same request would ultimately not go filled because the other authorities were reluctant to give up their contraband to work on forts north of the potomac. in fact, as we know, there was much greater use of contraband labor made on the ports of the south side of the potomac. these men, these self emans pated black folk who decided that they wouldn't automatically and necessarily wait for a federal executive degree and progress la messages but they took it upon themselves to work for their freedom. to risk life and limb in order to answer the clarion call that's deep in the hearts of all of us, the zoir to be free.

to be self determining. to be independent. and, in fact, when these laborers came to many of the forts surrounding the district. many of the soldiers were happy to see them. a member of the 50th new jersey volunteer infantry regimen reported that a detail of men was out every morning to work on the for theifications, but it linked 200 contrabands to north carolina were sent to take our places in the ditches and willingly return over our picks and shovel. one soldier who had done did youty in a fort lincoln and here at ft. stevens, oliver freeman walker who served with several regimens said that the time for drafting has come, speaking of fort stevens, everyone around here, negros and all were enrolled yesterday. from fort lincoln in northeast d.c., walker wrote, our first work will be to dig or help dig a chain of rifle pits connecting

these ports. though we here 500 negros will be here soon. it is important as well that you understand that black folk were not i'd him or passive spectators during the early attack on washington, d.c. for example, a unit of the colored troops marched up pearl street with wives and children tailing alongside and black men in neighborhoods in the services, for this unit of colored troops, we have no less than thortd than the daughter of the director of the smithsonian at the time. also, we know that in addition to 500 white troops called up to defend alexandria, some 800 colored men were also called up with the alexandria journal adding, these men will no doubt do good work should their services be required in the actual defense of the city. no less than authority than noah

brooks in washington and lincoln's time says that quote contraband negros and refugees were pressed into the service and at 12:00 on the night of july 11th, it was estimated that within the for theifications of washington, 60,000 men armed and equipped for quite. you must understand this desire to be free, this desire to participate did not simply occur at this point but all throughout the forts and batteries and camps that comprise the military defenses of washington. we are amazing at the black people that were able to cross the potomac above the city and make their way to battery kimble. those who took life and limb in hand and went to fort stanton and anacostia or for ft. dupont or ft. rebel. this is a part of the untold story of the defenses of washington. you see, these installations

typified hope, but not simply hope. not simply freedom or security. they also symbolize opportunity and i recently was recalling a story about a black man caught on the navy yard bridge trying to get into d.c. he told the union troops. he had walked 60 miles just to come here. he believed that under the capital dome, there would be freedom as well as justice as well as opportunities. we don't have to go to the capitol to find that out. you want to walk with me down georgia avenue, about a half mile, a quarter pliel to the intersection of georgia and missouri, we'd probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of the, of another camp and in that camp, we would find in the book where this cruel war is over, the civil war letters of charles harvey brewster, the touching

story of a place called camp rightwood and how this union officer, this man from the 10th massachusetts was changed when he met a freedom cñ seeking black man just 40 miles down the road who came in and worked for. . he is a bright looking group that described him, 17-years-old, says his master paid $400 for him six years ago. he was the only slave his master had. his master wouldfv never give h a gift. ladies and gentlemen, you must understand that this person for person connections between freedom-seeking black folk and these soldiers in the union army forged bonds that would not be forgotten once the guns of the sumpter of afromathematics were over. we found out that black folk in the city is nothing new. we know that black act axes and shovels bring the war of 1812 to

help guardr@ñó the nation's cap. in fact, one commenter would say the free people of this city, speaking of the war of 1812 acted has become patriots, there ñ to be on the spot conducting themselves with us and propriety and indeed when news of the war struck, when what has happened in charleston's harbor reverberated back to the district, jacob dodson, a black explorer, a man who had served and explored with john charles freemont offered to services of 300 black men in the first months of the war to protect the city. finally, it's important that we acknowledge that not simply the activities of blacks or contraband to the defense of washington but that we also acknowledge members of the united states colored troops. but we also have this idea that they were somehow missing in

terms of this great context and yet we have evidence now that only the sixth usct or the 28th or the wonderful job the 45th u.s. color troops did as they helped to repair ft. mcpearson on what is now the grounds of arlington national cemetery. but i have an article from the evening star from december 14th, 1865, that also mentioned u.s. public troops. this is after the end of the war where these posts were still important. i know many of you will recall george patton's victim, a soldier does his duty. he goes where he was told. that's what these men did. so we find u.s. color troops in places like slocum and patton and lincoln and mahan and baker and stanton and carroll according to evening star from december 14th, 1865.

these men, free soldiers, freedom-seeking black folks, safl emans pated contraband had all one thing in common. they were willing warriors, willing workers, and willing defenders of their national capitol in times of crisis. thank you. [ applause [ applause ] >> thank you, mr. gibbs, please welcome d.c. council member for murial bowser. >> also, regarding everybody and welcome, i am certainly delighted to be here with you to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the battle of ft. stevens. there is really so much great history here in our

capital city and i often and am very proud to celebrate the part that ward ford played in the history of our city and certainly in the history of our nation. we're very proud of it. we know that the only civil war battle to take place in the district of columbia took place here at ft. stevens. the only time a sitting president in the united states in the history of our country has come under hostile fire from an enemy combatant was here at ft. stevens. and we know that the battle of ft. stevens the nation's capital was saved from eminent attack. you may also know that even before ft. stevens was built to protect the capitol from confederate soldiers, this land was taken from a free black woman elizabeth thomas. we were very proud here in the

district of oklahomaia to recognize elizabeth thomas forever and ever hear at this land by naming this street in her honor, the elizabeth thomas way. we know, too, that she was never fully compensated for her land or her sacrifice for our great country. but fortunately today, we in this city have a wonderful relationship with our federal partners and we really want to act knowledge the hard work that they have done to act knowledge this great anniversary and to build a great relationship with our community. so that our parks, our national monuments, are really a part of the communities and the people that they serve. so i hope that you will joan me in acknowledging, really, two great women who are leading the national park service in d.c., at ft. stevens and right here in ward 4, our superintendent tara morrison. give her a round applause.

and our park manager, karen elder. give her a round of applause. they have been great allies and neighbors and this is something that we can't take for granted. now, i have the greats honor of national park facilities in our city. i know the difference between leaders who want us in the parks and leaders who don't. we have people that want to keep these parks alive. we need to act knowledge their service. we have 150 great years of history to celebrate here. i want to come to represent the 75,000 people for the 20 great neighborhoods i have the privilege to serve. also our city. i went to the council, there was a unanimous decision to act knowledge today with a

resolution. so superintendent morrison, may i present you with the following? i'll read a few of the statements here. this resolution says, whereas ft. stevens originally named ft. massachusetts from the home state of the soldiers who constructed it was built to defense the district of columbia against the attacks from the confederate army from the north along 7th street pike now known as georgia avenue. whereas, ft. massachusetts was renamed ft. stevens after the death of big deer general stevens at the battle of chantilly on september 1st, 1862 and whereas in the summer of 1864 general ulysses s grant moved most union troops to the south, leaving only 9,000 troops to defend the district of columbia and whereas on july 11th and july 12th, 1864, the battle of ft. stevens occurred and was the only civil war battle to take place in the

district of columbia. whereas the union army's sixth core brought reenforcements to ft. stevens where president abe ra lam lincoln met them and became the only sitting president in our history to come under hostile attack. whereas on the evening of july 12th, 1864, confederate troops began to withdraw from ft. steempbls and from the district of columbia. this victory saved the nation's capitol, helped insure president lincoln's re-election and aided in the preservation of the union. following the battle of ft. stevens the military road school one of the first schools in the district to educate african-american children was established on the grounds of ft. stevens and whereas the military road school, although closed in 1954, remains an essential part of the history of ft. stevens and the civil war history of colombia.

ft. stevens now serves as a civil war defense, operated and maintained by the national park service in the district of columbia as a place of enjoyment and a memorial to all those who steved and saved our country. be it resolved by the council by the district of colombia that this resolution be cited, the battle of ft. stevens, 150th anniversary recognition resolution of 2014. . >> thank you, council member bowser. please welcome members of the 2014 civil war junior ranger campers.

[ applause ] >> as i mentioned earlier, part of our responsible is insuring we are engaging nuances and sharing this history. so for the first year and in honor of the sus qui centennial of the civil war we conducted our first junior camp and would like to pen our three representatives here, cooper rivera, navid sherzod and nina sherzod. [ applause ]

>> they are now officially and they are now officially junior rangers. [ applause ] . >> our next speaker today is mr.

ed barrs. ed barrs is a united states marine war veteran of world war ii, a war historian and author of his work on american civil wars and world war ii eras. he is known for an extremely popular tour guide of historic battlefields for the smithsonian associates. mr. barrs served as chief historian of the national park service from 1981 to 1994. please welcome be ed barrs. [ applause ] . 71st off, i want to thank my colleagues of the national park service and the property, the people in the neighborhood for working so well together to

commemorate the battle of ft. stevens. an important milestone in the reunification of our country and the emancipation of american blacks. let us turn back the clock to the last days of june, 1864. at that time it was not of dillan that the union will triumph in the civil war. in fact, things were not going well . the new general and chief of the union army has in his campaign and against general lee's army

has lost over 100,000 men in the period between the third day of may and the 18th day of june. >> that is twice as many men as robert e. lee had in his army and a woman and the first lady of the land who referred to general grant as a butcher. even worse, than the disaster of pearl harbor has been the disaster that befell the union army on the 18th day of june at petersburg. at this time the president of the united states is considered by a number of problems, his great army is in the east.

undoubtedly, not accomplishing their mission which is to give the union victory by the time of election day and in november 1864. general sherman is not doing much better in georgia as is a union army is licking their wounds following the follow of the mountain. so things were not going well on the military front. things were not going well on the political front. here the president is well when the republican convention meeting in baltimore had renominated him for a second

ter term. the man from maine had been his first administration to replace him with military governor johnson of south, of tennessee. and a ticket that will go to the voters that fall will be the union ticket. not the republican ticket. as the president and his family prepare to move from the white house to the summer white house located about one mile from where we are on the grounds of the soldier's home, the president is confronted with other problems, politically. the egotistical and opinionated

secretary of the treasury would twice already submitted his resignation, submits it again and on his last day of the old congress, which had journals on the fourth day of july, he hands in his resignation. lat ent is layton is going to take great courage because he has a resovl solt in the republican party which has passed the wade davis bill that is taking the steps of reconstruction out of the south out of the president's hands and transfering it to the congress and the president shows great courage as it taught and vetoed

the wade davis bill. things are not getting well in virginia. general lee has detached and lee was the second and they have dealt with general hunter and it led to lynch burg and early in his 15 to 16,000 men are now sweeping down the shenandoah valley. the north well remembers the valley of humiliation the shenandoah valley from what had happened there in 1862 and it had been the route that the confederates had followed through their defeat of gettysburg in '63 and it looks

like a repeat as early's men march through lexington on the 26th day of june on the 1st day of july, they marched through winchester, virginia and on the fifth day of july, they will cross the potomac river. is it going to be another imposition of what had happened in '62 and '63. the general grant seems to not be overly concerned about the threat to washington, engendered by general early's men president jarret of the ohio-baltimore railroad is telling him it's a real threat and grant is going

to move rather slowly. as the confred rats will now move towards isolating the union troops, which inhabited martin's ferry in maryland heights and closed in on frederick, maryland. on frederick, maryland, they've occupied it on the 8th day of june. excuse me the 8th day of july. a union army has been assembled there on the banks of the monocacy and on the 9th day of july, the battle of monocacy. the force demanded by lou willis who writes the most popular novel written in the 19th century by american author ben

herr. when he evacuates and leaves the battlefield of monocacy. he falls back on baltimore, leaving washington uncovered. many of the thousands of men who have been manning the washington forts, the 87, 86, 87 forts, and batteries, have been pulled to fill the vacant ranks as we talked about in those wonderful songs we were led in as the option father abraham's call and are going to become instant infantrymen to replace in the ports, which have been instructive. many we just heard from our crazy lecture, many by the black men and even the black lady

whose land had been taken over for the construction of what becomes originally ft. massachusetts. but is now ft. stevens. so the day on the 10th day of july is an unseasonably hot day. the men are wearing more uniforms and i'm an honorary member of company b. of the massachusetts regimen there. the proudest thing i have is attending some of their rally. i'm glad to see they're here in full strength. strength. [ applause ] [ applause ] . >> the fort was a departure of

the heavy artilleryists, one being the first massachusetts. heavy artillery, with wind that becomes a trivia pursuit question. the type of tribute to grass roots you don't like to be. what union regimen lost more men in one -- in 15 minutes in this civil war? it's the first massachusetts heavy artillery. one of these ones that garrisons as they attack too late against lee's line at petersburg and will lose 642 men of a little over 850 losing more men in a single battle than any other unit in the civil war. it's a trivial pursuit question that you don't like to be one of the victims in it.

so as they sweep down, they're tired and the confederates are going to reach the evening of the 11th. on the 5th day of the month, the presidential family and close advisers move from the white house into the soldiers home. on the night of the 10th secondary stanton, he's a rough customer. i heard the people reap about secretary rums felt. you don't know what a tough secretary of war ed ward mcmaster stanton is. if you wept about senator rums

felt, you'll commit hairy carry over secretary stanton as he sends a message out directing the president and his family to remove back to the white house. the president will be up early on the morning of the 11th. the con fed rates had paused at rockville. and the calvary sweeps down the georgetown pike, now wisconsin avenue, arriving at tenially

circle while the rest to have confederate army moves cross country on farm roads leading from rockville to turn in to the seventh avenue extended, now georgia avenue. the secret service will be not responsible for the president's security until two other presidents have died at the hands of an asass sin. not until the summer of 1902 does the secret service become responsible for the big man in the white house. you can aj him on that day as the president goes out and

visits fort stephens and other forts. yes he is on at forth stephens on the afternoon around 1:00 on the 11th day of july. the con fed rates are in sig very springs. men have moved across into the district line, moving into occupying round now embraced by walter reed. and the president is going to be shot at. but this isn't the important one. the important one is going to be on the next day as he circulates. he makes a stop down at -- there

is no haynes point at that time. where haynes point is now, he watches the boats, ships arrive. with members of the sixth corps, two divisions of them, detachments of the 19th corps that have come all the way from louisiana to join the troops pep. . and some of the troops could remember this tall man, 7-foot tall when he has his top hat on. if we knew we were going to have two 6'4" presidents, we would have had a better measurement of them. we have two 6'4" president ps. one is abraham lincoln and one is lynn don johnson.

you do not know which is the taller. the first reports the general received, the conferron fed ratn rockville. they're going to be detoured, turn in and move out seventh street extended georgia avenue. there's a lot of excitement in washington that night as the sixth corps arrives to help out with the malitia. the con fedder rates are being a

ball. front gomry layer is going to lose his house to the con fed rates who show they request burn houses pretty well. francis blair, adviser to all presidents from andrew jackson to abraham lincoln, he's not at home, but he has a good liquor closet, and some of the confederates, particular early, is a good drinking man, and they are consuming francis p. blair's liquor supply, and they are very delighted as they get more and more, because one of the confederates there is john c. breckenridge. who is the youngest man ever to be vice president of the united states. being vice president under james

buchanan, and the confederates are feeling good. now, lincoln had kept construction going on the capitol dome. the dome has been completed. you can see it from the soldier's home, and they are debating, because breckenridge had been expelled from the senate in october 1861 as when he left the vice presidency and then the senate. as they get more and more influenced by what they are drinking, they'll boast, tomorrow we'll march down massachusetts avenue and we'll escort general breckenridge into the capitol, into the senate chamber, which he had presided over and place him back there. well, the president is going to pay a visit out here again on

the wealth. he's going to arrive out here and he's going to bring mary with him. now mary and he, there have been causalities out here, and close to the walls of fort stevens is a hospital. they go in and visit several wounded union soldiers there and then mary sits down. out here also is the secretary of state. the secretary of state, of course, is william seward. soon to arrive is going to be gideon wells, secretary of the navy, and his wife. now mary gets -- that's the one cabinet member that mary gets along well with, mrs. wells. she doesn't get along with others. the president will go up and stand on that paraben, where in the 1960s they'll put up a monument there.

the principle speaker there will be one of breckenridge's soldiers that they put up that monument to commemorate where lincoln is standing there in his top hat, seven feet tall, looking out over the sloping ground in front of him, where the confederates have taken shelter in the house in a grove about a quarter of a mile away. as he's standing there, there's a spat. standing next to him is dr. crawford of the 102nd pennsylvania. he is shot in the thigh and blood spurts over the president. now i often wonder what the secret service would do now, because the president has blood on him and now horacio g. wright has a tough job.

that is, he's got to get the president off the banquet, the firing step, getting him down where he's not exposed. there are two versions of how he does it. one, that he will ask the president politely to please step down. the other is, that he will put his hand on him, might have been bad for him in the days when we had secret service around, and they help him down off and he sits on the level ground, the step just back from the paraben and sits down with his back to the parapin. after a while he'll go over and talk to mary.